Wednesday's news conference at City Hall formalized a coup for San Francisco, no question. The city will have a prominent place in the golf world in the coming years, punctuated by the 2020 PGA Championship at Harding Park.

Still, to put it bluntly, the world's best players should come to our city every year.

This isn't Kansas, after all. Los Angeles hosts an annual PGA Tour event, as do San Diego and Phoenix among many others. Those are all fine golf cities, but San Francisco - with a rich history in the game, acclaimed courses and four major champions who grew up here - belongs on the list.

Don't count on it happening, unfortunately.

The Match Play Championship, set for next spring at Harding (April 29-May 3), is a good fit. The course is ideally suited for match play, offering abundant strategic options, and a much-needed format change that will assure Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and other top players hang around at least three days.

Tour officials still haven't nailed down a title sponsor for the 2015 edition, and the deal they're working on covers only one year. That's the biggest hurdle in making Harding the permanent home of Match Play, because the sponsor has a big say in where a tournament is held.

"We'll get through the '15 event in May and then assess that," PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem said after the news conference.

Finchem understands the value of playing a tournament in San Francisco. Nearly nine years later, he still marvels at the memory of the large, loud, diverse galleries at Harding Park in October 2005, when Woods outlasted John Daly in a riveting playoff.

Finchem learned then what most of us already knew: Bay Area fans are starved for elite golf, and Pebble Beach isn't the same as San Francisco.

Here's the rub: City officials aren't entirely convinced they want to host a big-time tournament every year. As they learned with the American Express Championship in '05 and the Presidents Cup four years later, it's not easy to stage a tour event - and it's especially tricky at a public course.

One potential solution is making Harding the semi-permanent home of Match Play. Maybe the event is held there every other year, or every third year. It's not the best way to create continuity with fans, but it might be the most realistic option.

"Our vision is to be a regular presence in San Francisco," tour executive David Pillsbury said. " ... The best scenario is a regular rotation, with majors as bookends."

The city's revised contract with the tour allows for more than next year's Match Play, the 2020 PGA and the '25 Presidents Cup. The tour also has the option of adding another event in 2016, '17 or '18, and then another one in 2021, '22 or '23.

Mark Buell and Phil Ginsburg, who have represented the Recreation and Park Department in ongoing talks with the tour, backed the idea of a rotation in which Harding hosts Match Play every three or four years. Ginsburg called it "taxing" to prepare the course for an event every year and still maintain public access.

Fair point, but San Diego pulls it off at its municipal jewel, Torrey Pines.

As for the PGA Championship, that's an altogether different beast. Majors live in another realm, attracting the interest of even casual fans. So it's a giant step for Harding to land the PGA.

If the tournament comes off well in 2020 - and that's no guarantee - it could join the quasi-regular rotation for golf's fourth major. That would mean hosting the PGA every eight to 10 years.

"We have every intent of making Harding a regular stop," said Pete Bevacqua, chief executive officer of the PGA of America. "That is our goal."

Bevacqua spoke of a geographic responsibility to include West Coast courses. The PGA has not been held in the West since 1998, when it was played at Sahalee Country Club outside Seattle.

At any rate, Wednesday's official announcement included one memorably awkward moment. Mayor Ed Lee, in his opening remarks, referred to the "Players Championship," not the PGA Championship, coming to Harding in 2020.

Lee's mistake caused PGA of America president Ted Bishop, standing only a few feet away, to squirm. Bishop's face briefly went blank. Then he grimaced, fully aware Golf Channel was carrying the news conference on live national television.

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